Spatial cuing in a stereoscopic display: attention remains "depth-aware" with age

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human visual perception

Background:

• Spatial attention is known to be "depth-aware", meaning attention shifts involving depth take longer.
• Previous studies show increased reaction times (RT) for attention shifts across depths compared to 2-D space alone.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the depth-aware nature of spatial attention is preserved in older adults.
• To determine if age affects the ability to orient visual attention to locations at different depths.

Main Methods:

• Twelve younger and 12 older adults participated.
• Participants viewed stereoscopic displays with cued spatial locations at near and far depths.
• Reaction times were measured for valid and invalid attention cues, comparing shifts within 2-D space versus shifts involving depth.

Main Results:

• Both younger and older observers showed a greater RT cost when attention shifted between different depth locations and 2-D locations compared to shifts within 2-D space alone.
• The "depth-aware" effect on attention shifting was consistent across age groups.
• No significant age-related decline was found in the ability to orient attention to depth locations.

Conclusions:

• The ability to orient spatial attention to specific depth locations is maintained in older adulthood.
• Depth-aware spatial attention mechanisms appear robust and are not significantly impaired by aging.
• These findings contribute to understanding age-related changes in visual attention and spatial cognition.